Yoshitomo Tsutsugo has been very busy this year. First, the Yokohama BayStars outfielder played in 138 games during the NPB season, hitting .317 with 24 home runs and 93 RBIs. Then he appeared in all seven of Japan’s games at the Premier 12, going ...

Continuity in Japanese dugouts took a hit when now-former Yomiuri Giants manager Tatsunori Hara sat down for his retirement news conference on Monday. Hara had been in charge of the Giants since 2006 and was easily the most experienced manager in Japan. Now that ...

Tetsuto Yamada had three hits against the Hiroshima Carp but it was a stolen base that mattered most to Swallows fans on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Jingu Stadium. The Tokyo Yakult cheering section launched into rhythmic exhortations of “hashire (run!) Yamada” whenever the ...

Randy Johnson won 303 games, five Cy Young Awards, struck out 4,875 batters (second all time) and was recently inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Needless to say, the Big Unit knows his way around a mound. On Tuesday night in Chiba, Johnson, ...

The Hanshin Tigers are well into their annual summer jaunt away from Koshien Stadium as they make way for the National High School Baseball Championship. The Tigers, who left the park behind on Aug. 2 and won’t return until Aug. 28, are nine games ...

Fukuoka Softbank Hawks closer Dennis Sarfate joined an impressive club with a strikeout of Ikuhiro Kiyota on Monday night. Sarfate’s strikeout closed out Softbank’s 5-4 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines, giving him his ninth save of the season and, more importantly, the 100th ...

When Yu Darvish left for the major leagues after the 2011 season, the prevailing thought was the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ pitching staff would be a rudderless ship. Then, improbably, left-hander Mitsuo Yoshikawa stepped up to fill the void. The Fighters hardly missed Darvish ...

While much of the media horde tasked with covering the Yomiuri Giants has spent the spring either breathlessly reporting on every nuance of Shinnosuke Abe’s transition from catcher to first base or peppering manager Tatsunori Hara about what’s wrong with the club, Frederich Cepeda ...

The exhibition season is well under way in Japanese baseball, with most teams already five or more games into spring training games. The defending Japan Series champion Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (6-1) are currently atop the spring standings, while the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (0-4-2) ...

If the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles seal the deal with Wily Mo Pena, as reported on Monday by Daily Sports Online, it will help the Eagles avoid taking a step back in the power department, but it won’t solve all the team’s problems. What ...

Hideki Kuriyama was a television commentator for 10 years before becoming manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2012. So perhaps it’s only fitting the charismatic Kuriyama has an easy and affable rapport with the media, existing in the sweet spot between the ...

Pitching is set to take center-stage this weekend as second and third-place teams take the field in the first stage of their respective Climax Series this weekend. Three of Japan’s most talked about pitchers — the Hiroshima Carp’s Kenta Maeda, the Orix Buffaloes’ Chihiro ...